Restaurant marketing should focus on your strengths and find a way to turn those weaknesses around. The best campaign strategy for your particular business is dependent on your customer base and your professional goals.
If you’re just starting out or trying to launch a new campaign, avoid these nine common restaurant marketing mistakes.
1. Inconsistency
Branding is everything. Whenever you make big business decisions, take care to make the messaging consistent across all your platforms. Everything should align with your brand and the narrative you’ve constructed around it to draw people to your mission statement.
2. Using the Wrong Socials
Social media platforms are the hub of direct outreach. Find out where your target demographic spends their time online, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or somewhere else, post regularly at peak times to improve your customer engagement, which in turn increases loyalty.
Give customers behind-the-scenes looks into the kitchen, sneak peeks of new drink specials and even ask them directly what they want. Set up polls and contests to test the market before you make a big change.
3. Underinvest
Successful restaurant marketing requires putting money in so you can get more out. Set aside funds in your budget explicitly dedicated to advertisements. For example, hiring an SEO expert can significantly improve digital marketing and mobile promotions using applicable keywords. With Google My Business, register your restaurant to get on the digital map for customers in an appropriate radius nearby. Add relevant contact information so they can find you with one keyword search and get in touch quickly. Next time someone searches “seafood in my town,” you’ll appear higher on the search results.
4. Weak Customer Connections
Loyalty is the backbone of a successful business. Rewards programs encourage guests to come back, again and again, to get that tenth coffee free. When you consolidate enough customer profiles, you eventually have a database of their preferences to draw from when searching for your next big ad campaign too. Don’t underestimate customer loyalty!
5. Overpromotion
There is such a thing as too much exposure. Email newsletters are a vital part of modern restaurant marketing. Still, if you send them too frequently or include irrelevant information for the sake of filling space, then you’ll experience unnecessarily high rates of unsubscription. Try sending out one newsletter per month or offer customers different frequencies to choose from to find what works best.
6. Poor Photography
Take high-resolution pictures of your food, customers enjoying the service, and a behind-the-scenes look into your business to show customers what they’re missing. Sprinkling photos of your dishes throughout the menu can draw people to items that don’t usually sell or keep old favorites alive. Just make sure that what you photograph is what arrives in front of the customers.
7. Mobile Ineffectiveness
A significant portion of restaurant patrons was ordering on-the-go before COVID-19, but now that they’re stuck at home, it’s taken off even more explosively. Online ordering is projected to continue trending upwards after the virus is under control, so make sure your website and menu are mobile-friendly.
8. Ignore Relevant Metrics
After investing so much time into quality restaurant marketing, why let it all go to waste? Invest in advanced Point of Sales like the one powered by eatOS to automatically report and analyze sales data so you can judge the effectiveness of your campaigns. Narrow down which KPI to track and change these metrics to see your efforts take on a new life.
9. Stagnation
Adaptability is key. The market, customers, and your business will all change as the rest of the industry progresses. For example, now that contact-free ordering is necessary, mobile technology and advanced Point of Sale systems appear in restaurants all over the country to meet these new challenges.
Smart restaurant marketing starts with avoiding these common industry mistakes. Better technology is here to help: Schedule a demo with eatOS to learn how we’re ushering in the future of food service, today.
